SE: Behind the Looking Glass
by xXNekoBunnehsXx
Summary: Avery vanished, leaving her weapon Emmett to lead the search for her. Her fighting spirit can do little as she's taken over and forced to see things in a much different light.


Based off "No Church in the Wild".

Part One

"I don't know how they got her." Emmett whispered, his hands clenched into fists to keep from shaking. Liz, Patti, and Tsubaki circled him, offering their apologies that somehow meant nothing to him. "I just…we went to sleep. All I heard was her yell once, then when I left my room to check on her…" He trailed off. Silently, Maka observed the holes strewn across the walls and then Emmett's plaster and blood caked knuckles. Perhaps, just maybe, he wasn't the know-it-all weakling she had once thought.

Kid straightened his shirt, slightly distressed by the disorder of the apartment. "Not a sound? That's odd. There looks to have been at least struggle." He kicked over the board of a mirror to reveal glass bathed in red.

"Some of that might have been me. I was looking for the trademark."

The room went silent and glances were thrown across to each other, searching for the meaning. When no one answered and all that was left was silence, someone spoke up.

Tsubaki frowned, "Trademark?"

"Don't pretend like you all don't know." He said softly, "I share the last name of the most notorious mobsters in all of New York. I ran off when I was young, I knew they were going to come after me sooner or later, but it's been so long…"

"You left, and that's what matters. If you hadn't we might have been hunting for your soul right now, right?" Soul offered, looking up from the massive piles of weapons that was Avery's room – each one was used, or at least had bloody handprints on it. The right wall had a gaping hole in it, leading directly into town.

"Shut up." A gravely whisper from the distant corner, directed at Emmett, "You need to stop trying to play the victim. If you knew that you were a danger to her, why would you stay? A bit selfish wouldn't you say?"

Instantly Emmett turned, eyes narrowed. "She knew exactly what she was getting into. I never forced her to let me in, and even knowing who I was she practically ordered me to stay. It's one of the things I respect about her."

"Of course she'd stay. She'd be way too stubborn to leave." Black Star hissed, slamming a fist on the table.

"Are you insulting my Meister, Black Star?" Emmett snapped. His hands coiled into fists once more, shaking plaster off to his jeans.

"Who said I was?" He asked, "It's a compliment. My woman is independent."

"She's not your woman!" Emmett growled.

"Stop it!" Maka cried, throwing herself in the short distance between them.

"You're being fools!" Kid said, "I know exactly how to find our lost friend. Liz, Patti, let's go."

Liz sighed as her sister cheered foolishly and retreated into their masters' skilled hands - Soul and Tsubaki followed. Emmett turned for a moment, quickly realizing he'd have to be alone; for a sickening moment, he felt something creep across his back and spread all through his body. _Fear?_

"Hey, nerd," Black Star called, "You comin?"

Emmett swallowed, banishing the feeling from his body before nodding and jumping from the gaping hole in the apartment. So long as it was for Avery, he would do this, if only not to be alone again.

* * *

"Pray, puny wretch."

Her eyes are clouded with blood and her throat is closed with words she's too scared to speak. All around her is darkness that beats, cuts, and bruises her. Fighting is impossible for she is no longer in control of her own mind.

She wasn't in charge anymore. She was a weakling.

* * *

"I can feel her soul." Maka said, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. "It's very erratic – big and fighting, and then it's something else – something completely different from the last."

Tsubaki frowned, "You mean like a different soul?"

Maka shook her head, "No, just a different side of it, maybe?"

Emmett clenched his hands into fists. She definitely had a big, powerful soul, but it was also somewhat held back. She knew how to show self-control, it was very rare however for her to in fact make use of it.

Soul sighed, "This is so uncool. Let's just go get her already!"

Black Star howled in the night, diving ahead of everyone else. "I can _feel_ her!" He moved with the wind, graceful, and fast.

Emmett picked up pace, eventually reaching full stride with Black Star. "Where is she?" Black star never answered, he only continued to scream at the top of his lungs, "I can feel her! I can practically see her now!"

* * *

Fading in and out of conscious she saw the chapel, hidden somewhere in the rings of darkness swarming her. She could see her hands, covered in blood that screamed it wasn't hers. She was hanging upside down on the cross that hung from the ceiling, her shadow bathing the stained glass above the altar in darkness.

_Quiet. The trial is to begin soon! _

Laughter blasted in her ears – insane and infinite. Her need to fight back faded as she had come to realize it was hopeless . She wanted nothing but to be out of her current situation because as it seemed she was either going to die, or she was already dead.

There was nothing to but sit and watch as the show went on.


End file.
